Monday, September 20, 2010

Six months after its original plan to go public was sidelined by a public relations nightmare, local budget carrier Cebu Pacific finally gets the required approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange. The planned sale of almost 215 million new shares, or 35% of the firm, to the public is seen to generate around 32 billion pesos of additional capital, almost three times the proposed amount in March. The IPO is set to become the biggest in local stock market history.

The move takes advantage of soaring investor confidence in the market amid the current bull run, so it's turning out that the delay in March was some kind of blessing in disguise. Since that time, the public has heard nothing but good news about the firm from local media: from regular seat sale announcements, to the opening of new destinations like Brunei Darussalam and Beijing, to continued fleet and personnel expansion. Also, the recent labor related troubles of fierce competitor Philippine Airlines helped boost Cebu Pacific's standing in the industry and in the minds of the public.

The listing is scheduled on October 26, so start calling your brokers to subscribe if you're interested.